ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — May 14 was National Trauma Survivors Day, and Swedish Medical Center hosted an event to reunite their former trauma patients with the people who helped save their lives.
“I would not be this whole and healed version of myself if not for all the people who showed up around me in my darkest hour,” said Sean Hall, a former patient and keynote speaker at the event.
He knows he’s lucky to be alive, and he doesn’t take moments like this for granted.
“I died. It was bad. It was about as severe of trauma as I couldn't have taken much more,” said Hall.
In 2016, Hall experienced a catastrophic crash. He lost control of his powered paraglider in windy conditions in Bennett, Colorado. He hit the ground going about 40 mph.
His foot and pelvis shattered into pieces. He went into hemorrhagic shock, had multiple fractures throughout his face and skull, and the blood in his body was replaced more than three times.
Glenda Quan, trauma surgeon, was there in the trauma bay when he first arrived.
“We had to improvise in the moment. And I'm very, we're very fortunate that it worked,” said Quan. “It’s days like this, that kind of bring us together in a celebratory sense. And it is very important, it gives us courage to move on.”
Now, eight years later, Swedish is giving Sean and other trauma survivors a chance to thank all those who helped to save his life.
“There's countless people who played a hand in me having another chance at life. And, usually, you never get to meet those people. They're just kind of angels in the wings,” said Hall.
The highly trained specialists here receive more than 2,500 trauma patients each year. Their mission is to rebuild those patients, leading to beautiful moments like today.
“To see that they can move beyond that and to be happy, healthy people again is super inspiring,” said Quan. “I'm so grateful that he comes back and acknowledges all the things that the medical staff did to kind of get him to where he is now. And it's very rewarding.”
